Nigerian Army Seeks Healthy Military-Media Relations to enhance Security

The Nigerian Army has called for a healthy military-media relationship as a vital tool to enhance Nigeria’s internal security operations and protect innocent citizens.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS), Lt. General Taoreed Lagbaja, disclosed this at the Nigerian Army Civil-Military Cooperation Media Chat, for the third quarter of 2023, with the theme: ‘Leveraging Media to Enhance Nigeria’s Internal Security Operations’, held in Ibadan, Oyo state on Wednesday.

Gen. Lagbaja, who was represented by the General Officer Commanding (GOC) of the 2 Division Nigerian Army, Adekunle Fajuyi Cantonment, Ibadan, Maj. Gen. Bamidele Alabi, disclosed that the media chat was aimed at keeping journalists informed, dispel rumours and provide accurate and timely information to the media as an important segment of nation building, that keeps the society informed of events, including military operations.

He stated: “At a time like this, when the nation is inundated with a myriad of internal security challenges, the Nigerian Army, under my leadership, has adopted a multi-dimensional approach requiring the collaboration of all, especially the media, in confronting these challenges. Thus, a forum such as this media chat is important for a more detailed examination of issues that relate to the Nigerian Army, in order to provide context and other perspectives to the issues.”

The COAS, who observed that security in Nigeria had drastically evolved such that the Nigerian Army is deployed to combat terrorists, insurgents and other criminals in all parts of the country, disclosed that the Army, under his leadership, had institutionalized efforts to enhance professionalism, adopted strategies to strengthen the civil-military relationship in Nigeria, and trained and equipped forces to carry out kinetic operations, to ensure that the security challenges in the country were resolved within the shortest possible time.

Lagbaja noted: “To deepen the institutionalization of professionalism in the Nigerian Army, I crafted the wordings of my ‘Command Philosophy’ which is “To Transform the Nigerian Army into a Well-Trained, Equipped and Highly Motivated Force Towards Achieving our Constitutional Responsibilities within Joint Environment”.”

In his address of welcome, the Chief of Civil-Military Affairs, Maj. Gen. Nosakhare Ugbo, noted that the media chat was part of efforts to keep the media informed of the Civil-Military Cooperation and Civil-Military Relations activities of the Nigerian Army, in order to eliminate rumours and provide accurate and timely information in line with international best practices.

Ugbo said the gathering would provide an opportunity for the Nigerian Army to engage with various communication experts for better understanding and chart a mutually beneficial relationship to improve media reportage.

Two lectures were delivered at the event, including: “Media as Team Players in Nigerian Army’s Internal Security Operations”, by Maj. Gen. Bamidele Omozoje (Rtd) and “Militrary-Media Relations for Enhanced National Security: Nigerian Army in Perspective”, by Maj. Gen. Chris Olukolade (Rtd).

The two lecturers agreed that a robust relationship between the military and the media was vital and journalists should be trained on how to properly cover and report the activities of the Army, as they need to understand the conflict they are reporting so as to combat misinformation.